Emelin wasn't with Markov, but he did skate with someone he is familiar with, his former partner with Ak Bars Kazan, Evgeny Medvedev. Nikitin was with Anton Belov of the Edmonton Oilers.

"There are 25 guys together. It is all one team," Markov said. "Everybody has to be ready to play with each other. We can't say to the coach, 'I want to play with this guy or that guy.' It is his decision and we have to respect that. We have to play that way."

Markov admitted he wasn't very familiar with Voynov's game, but he's impressed by what he's seen.

"I've seen him on TV and we've played a couple times. Mostly I see him on TV," he said. "He looks like [he has] great vision, good skater, good shot, reads the play well. He's a talented, young defenseman."

The focus on the Russian team is on the explosive forwards, but the offensive force of the team might put undue strain on its defense.

When asked what the defense had to do to allow Russia to have success as the host nation at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Tyutin had a very straightforward response.